Hier ist es sicher, hier ist es warm~! [Willem]

Oh, how Lili missed flowers and sunshine. Not that the hospital tried to brighten their rooms up, quaint paintings of the outside world patients were missing out on decorating their walls, they really tried. But it really wasn't the same, so started Lili's adventure into the courtyard, soaking in sunlight. Quiet flowers bowed as a breeze swept by, and the small girl smiled softly, pushing a few blonde strands of hair behind her ear. To be fair to the painters, they had done a very good job of capturing the essence of a beautiful garden. Beautiful blue sky, floral decorations, stone paths, it almost looked like it had been lifted out of a storybook all together.

Quickly it became a game in the girl's mind. The hospital sitting behind her was not a hospital, it was a castle. It was her castle, of course. The nurse that was supposed to be watching over the people in the courtyard, they were.. Hmn. They were a guard, royal guard. And of course, this castle and it's inhabitants were not in America, no, they were in Liechtenstein, a hundred years ago.

“Hallo, meine Freunde,” Lili murmured to her flower companions, pulling her violet dress to her knees before taking a seat next to the plants. She smiled, reaching and pulling a tulip from it's place, holding it to herself. “Auf der Wiese, unter der weide~..” The small teen sung to herself, looking over her shoulder in case a nurse had stumbled across her hiding place.-- 'A guard,' her mind corrected. Turning back to the flowers, she plucked another tulip.

The doctor wasn't one to complain much, but he certainly felt in the mood to do so today. He'd been up the entire night, full of boredom without much at all to do. Supervising a quiet pediatrics ward wasn't a very eventful job, and there hadn't been any severe cases in the ward so most of the patients just slept quietly that night. By the time he was done checking on everything that needed to be checked and finishing all the paperwork that needed to be done, he was surprised when he looked at his watch and realized it was just after noon.

Making sure that everything was neat and tidy on his desk--he hated there being messes where he worked, that was certain--he grabbed a pile of manila folders from the corner of his desk. Standing and heading over to a file cabinet, he put them away before sighing.

There was nothing left for him to do at work any longer. The Dutchman was just glad that his day off was tomorrow, and in truth, with how much he'd been working lately... He was looking forward to it. There was just one little tidbit left for him to do...

He began his way out of the office, locking the door behind him as he went. The Dutchman wasted no time before hurrying down the hallway. In the court yard, he knew, they had quite a nice assortment of flowers. It was something that noone would expect a man like him to take notice of, but the second he laid eyes on the small tulip beds, he naturally did.

They were mostly second-rate, nothing like the wonderful assortment he had at home. The ones that he had at home were taken care of much better, and that's one reason why he'd always taken the effort every time they were in season to go and look at the ones the hospital had.

Once Willem had finally made his way to the courtyard, he quickly pushed aside the doors to step into the warm air. Ignoring the odd nurse or two who attempted to greet him, he made an immediate beeline for the tulips.

Although he was bit disappointed, almost, when he noticed there was another already near them, when he realized who it was, that changed everything. Even if he couldn't remember her name, he could remember her, with such a sweet smile and, well... He'd never really spoken to the young patient or interacted with her, so that was about it. She seemed pleasant though, with such a dainty figure and a voice like an angel...

It'd be a shame to interrupt her song--German, he could tell-- but he noticed that she'd apparently plucked one of the tulips and was hugging it to herself. He cleared his throat behind her, unsure exactly what to say.

That last note had curved up into a rather sour note, ringing in her own ears, as she wondered whether to turn to face the person who had spoken. Most like a nurse slash guard, she thought. Then again, Lili had forgotten other people liked to wander the courtyard, of course she wouldn't be the only one to loiter it.

Tulip gripped in her small fingers as if it were a lifeline, the teen faced said person, at first startled by the man's height. Taking a small step back, Lili stared wide eyed at the man. Of course, she'd seen him around, he worked with the younger kids, a category she herself had been dropped into. They hadn't interacted much, however, and she could only recall his name. She dearly hoped Herr Jansen wouldn't be terribly angry with the fact she had picked some of the flowers... Jansen?.. Jackson? No, Jansen.. ..Jannson? Jansenn? No, it had to be Jansen.

“A-ah, Hallo, sir,” she began, realizing she was probably strangling the poor flower in her hands to death, and loosening her hold ever slightly. Already her mind was trying to place his position in the imagined world she had created. Just a normal guard, possible one of the people of the court. Maybe..

Her eyes flicked up to the scar resting on his forehead, quickly gazing down to his eyes instead before Lili blushed lightly, stopping herself from staring all together. Instead of even looking at the man, she became very interested with staring at her feet. Staring is impolite, apologize, her mother scolded. “B-bitte,” the girl added, appeasing her mother's voice in her head. Even on another continent her mother kept in line, how was that possible?

It was a shame that he had her end her song so prematurely, but it couldn't be helped. She'd caught his interest, and he wanted to speak to her. Wanted to, the man who never wanted to do anything.

If only she wasn't crushing the tulip so tightly...

"Hoi." He repeated his greeting, staring at the tulip she still held. Keeping his gaze on the young lady, it slowly turned back to her face. When she apologized to nothing but the air, he had to raise an eyebrow, the scar on his forehead following along with it. Lips starting to twitch into a vaguely amused smirk, he reached down to pat the top of her head.

A young girl that did nothing but bathe in the sunlight and sing to the flowers? He quietly mused it over for a moment, before finally responding to the odd apology--was it an apology? He couldn't imagine she was saying please to anything... Those Germans and their language, he brushed off the annoyance.

"Was? Is there something you needed?"

He removed his hand, instead reaching out to gently cusp her hands in his own. Trying to pry her fingers away from the stem of the tulip, he offered a small chuckle. "Miss, you're going to kill it."

Because informing a child that they're going to kill something they seem to find precious is always proper conduct. In truth, he just wasn't thinking too much about it.

There was so many thoughts rushing through her head, she never knew it was possible to be thinking so many things at once. One thought was fear for herself, that she would be in trouble, but she was also very afraid that she might have taken someone's place of sanctuary. For some reason, she was also afraid of how tall this man was, but that was a rather irrational fear in contrast to the others.

Lili turned the slightest shade of pink as the doctor placed his hand on her head, as she was terribly unaccustomed to any contact outside of a hospital room, really. That, and she was sure he had caught her looking at the scar on his forehead, which was very rude.

Surprisingly, at least to her, she thought little of the flower she held in her hands, and Lili blinked once, before unlocking her grip on the poor thing quickly.

"A-Ach, bitt– sorry, I didn't want to kill it, I really didn't," she rambled on, starting to gnaw on her bottom lip. Stupid, she chided mentally, kneeling down to pick up the tulip. Taking this as a chance to keep a modest meter of distance from Herr Jansen, she took a few steps back as she straightened back up. Lili tried to avoid strangling the flower this time, holding it with a quarter of the grip she had before.

"...It's fine." He murmured, in regards to the not-even abused tulip. The Dutchman watched her carefully as she took a few steps away, looking as modest and lovely as the flower she held. The slightest tinge of pink on her cheeks nearly made him want to smile, but he held off on doing any such thing.

To offset the fact he was so tall, he slowly began to kneel, not worrying that he'd probably get dirt and such on his trousers. Motioning toward himself, he beckoned her to come sit with him. "You're... What was your name again?" He asked quietly, resting his hands on his knees.

For some reason, he knew he'd seen her around, but there was just something that made her name escape him. It was almost as if she too beautiful of a creature to have a name anyways; being something otherworldly, a maiden of the flowers.

The doctor didn't appear mad, nor as if he were going to lecture or yell. Despite this, she felt as if she were going to topple over from how rapid her heart was beating, faster than her normal not-normal heartbeat. Lili knew this was for nothing, for doctors never hurt people. At least, they never hurt patients.

As Mr. Jansen got down to his knees, slowly, she felt very much like a frightened animal, and he were trying to avoid any possibility of her running off. Surely she should feel insulted by such body language, but she realized that he had quite the right to act this way, for she must have a dreadful appearance. There was splotches of mud on her shins and her face was flushing with every breath she took. On top of it, she was ninety seven percent sure her heartbeat could be seen a mile away.

Lili wasn't sure she was in such a state, really. There had been multiple points that Mr. Jansen had proven no harm whatsoever. Taking cautious steps forward, she sat down again, arranging herself so she was half a foot away. “I'm Lili Zwingli, sir,” the girl breathed, feeling as if she weren't supposed to raise her voice, like one would in a library.

His offer to help her identify what kind of flower she had in her hands puzzled her, however. She had never met a man who actually knew about things like flowers. Lili almost thought he might not actually know anything about flowers, and was lying. Might as well humor him, though, she thought. She handed over the tulip, her fingertips brushing across his hand.The contact had actually calmed her heart down, as if verifying he wasn't going to snap with a touch that couldn't have lasted more than two seconds.

He didn't even notice the mud or the state she was in, having been far too preoccupied with the doe-like look of her eyes, the way her lips moved when her chest heaved. Settling down himself--he felt like a young man in school with a crush, certain even that his ears were probably tipped red--he tried to focus on the flower instead.

At least she agreed to sit beside him, and he was a bit disappointed at her distance. Taking the flower--he bristled as her fingers brushed against his hand, stiffening his back--he cleared his throat. His thumb gently brushed against the petals, and he let a sigh just barely pass by his lips.

In truth, he didn't need to guess or bring up any knowledge at all. He'd been the one to bring tulip bulbs in to the hospital, to plant them and nurture them. If a man never tried to lie to look good in a woman's--or girl as it may be--eyes, there'd be no human species left anyways.

"Tulipa gesneriana. These are special, the bulbs can last through temperatures below even freezing... They came from Asia."

He turned his head down toward her, holding the flower with one hand as his other creeped toward her. Willem placed a hand on the shoulder opposite of him, scooting a bit closer to the young girl.

"Tulips were very important business to the Dutch. A flower like this... It could get well over a thousand dollars... Hundreds of years ago, anyways." If she had an interest in flowers, he would try anything, any story or tale or lie to get her to stay.

Had Lili been focusing on the man's face, she maybe would have seen maybe just the tinge of red across his face, but she was more interested in his description of the tulip's history, rather than him. She stared, perhaps in a rude manner, as he spoke.

Hundreds of years ago, a tulip that was growing abundantly right in front of her, was worth a fortune. Just now she had been picking it from it's place like.. a flower. Not like it was some precious thing. 'That would be because you don't live a hundred years ago', she reminded herself, blinking as the man moved closer. Lili's daydream from before seemed to come rushing back, and she pondered the idea of what title to give this doctor.

It had been silent far too long after his words, and Lili realized she had needed to respond instead of spacing off. “That's nool,” the girl blurted, smiling for a moment before she realized what she had just said. Or failed to say. Her smile dropped from her face faster than she could blink, and she automatically covered her face in shear embarrassment.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the younger girl's mistake. His immediate reaction was to repeat it, before he even tried to think of any language it might be in. Nothing came to mind, and he set the tulip down, across his knee. He patted her back, watching as she covered up the delicate features of her face.

"Having a little problem with English?"

He had never really gone through the same. He had been lucky enough to have learned it from a relatively young age, so he didn't have the problems that seemed so common with folks that hadn't been learning for too long.

"This is the problem with Germans, you know. You don't learn the language until it's too late." Teasing her, he moved his hand from her back. Willem moved to grip her wrists, using both hands, carefully and gently, afraid of hurting her to the point that he treated his fingers on her as if she was made of porcelein. Trying to pull her wrists away from her face, the pediatrician hazard a small, vague smile.

"You don't need to apologize though. You'll get used to it... Just think it out slowly before you speak."